When the win is simply too good to be true…

Your odds of winning the Lotto are less than one in a million (sometimes, substantially less than that!). Yet you still buy the lottery ticket. Because if you win, your life will be transformed. You can pay off the house, get rid of debts, secure your children’s’ education and look after your aging parents. Goodbye, stress and strife! The question is, what would you do if you bought the winning lottery ticket? Who would you tell? What would your victory dance look like? What would you do with your winnings?

One recent Lotto Powerball jackpot winner (who has remained anonymous) was so surprised when he realised that he was holding the winning ticket, he kept quiet about it for over a week!

So who was this lucky chap? He worked as a public servant in Limpopo, South Africa. He’d been buying the R20 lottery ticket every week, for 16 years. And every week, his wife told him he was crazy. She believed the lottery was a waste of money, since the odds are stacked so high against the ticket holder. And he almost started believing her!

But when he saw that the jackpot had swelled to an astounding R87 million, he knew he had to try his luck. He asked his wife to help him pick out numbers, but she refused. He stopped in at the Global Filling Station in Mokopane to buy a lottery ticket. A mere fifteen minutes before the cut off, he handed over R20, and took a lottery ticket.

It looked like any other lottery ticket. It felt like any other lottery ticket.

But when the winning numbers were announced, he knew that this ticket was his one-in-a-million dream come true. Because with it, he’d won a whopping R87 million. This is the fourth highest cash prize in the history of the South African lottery!

He almost didn’t believe it. In fact, he was so shocked, he kept his win a secret – for over a week! Finally, he broke the news to his wife, who also couldn’t believe his luck. She broke out in a gospel hymn!

Finally, the winner took the winning ticket to the offices of the Ithuba National Lottery, to lay claim to his life-altering prize. He admitted it was all so surreal, it had taken him a few days to get used to the idea.

Interestingly, this winner had modest plans for his millions. He said he wanted to make charitable donations and then invest his cash wisely. He had no intentions of quitting his job, or going on wild shopping sprees.

We can’t help but wonder, how he’s doing, and whether he stuck to this plan!